Pluto

Arms and the Man

Arms and the Man by Bernard Shaw

Bernard Shaw is a writer that I come to admire through years. But just as what is written in the introduction, his works never intends to please the reader. Rather, he "only succeeded in proving that absolutely rational men and women--although he has created few of the latter--can be most extremely disagreeable to our conventional way of thinking."

And sometimes, Shaw could create the effect of intimidation when he seems to believe in what he says about humanity rather than intend to present it in a humorous or cynical way, and that often makes the reader uncomfortable.

However, Arms and the Man is a more comfortable work, compared with Major Barbara or Ibsen's work. Somehow I feel that this play is more like that of Wilde's, exposing the hypocrisy of the rich. This is a play about being practical, even about war. Even though Raina and Sergius endeavor to maintain the old-fashioned, medieval, and aristocratic atmosphere of knights and high ladies, what they are, essentially, is the modern bourgeois that emerges out of business and industry. Ironically, while Sergius and Raina are ignorant about the cruelty of war, the experienced, rational, cold officer Bluntschili is ignorant about daily life and misunderstands Raina's intention as well as age. Nevertheless, as most Victorian plays, they all end in marriage, happily naturally.